This invention relates to a load spacer or void filler for use between adjacent articles or containers of freight in a shipping vehicle which may be collapsed to a compact package for shipment or storage but can be readily expanded for use. More particularly, this invention relates to an economy void filler which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture for use in shipment of articles of freight.
In the loading of a freight container, such as a railway boxcar or other shipping vehicle or container, it frequently happens that the loads placed therein do not completely fill up the available storage space. Thus, there are left one or more vertical spaces between closely spaced, adjacent unit loads of goods or between the load and the walls of the shipping container. These spaces should be filled to prevent side shifting of the load during transit which could cause damage to the load. Moreover, in some applications, it is desirable to separate the load from the walls of the shipping container to prevent the load from contacting the walls of the container. For example, when shipping goods in paper bags or like paper containers, e.g., bags of cement loaded in railway boxcars, the bags can be torn by the rough walls of the boxcars allowing the contents of the bags to spill. Thus, the load should be spaced from the walls of the shipping vehicle to prevent damage to the containers and to the load.
Prior to the present invention, various forms of load spacers or void fillers have been proposed for filling the spaces between adjacent unit loads of goods. One particular form of void filler is a collapsible honeycomb structure in which a stack of rectangular strips of sheet material, for example, corrugated paperboard, are glued to adjacent strips at spaced and staggered positions such that when expanded the strips define a honeycomb having a plurality of cells. These prior art load spacers typically include one or more elongated, relatively rigid suspension members extending transversely of the honeycomb structure with the ends of the suspension members extending laterally beyond the planar sides of the structure. In use, the suspension members bridge the space and rest on the tops of the spaced loads. The spacer hangs from the suspension members between the pair of spaced apart articles of freight and expands downwardly between the articles under its own weight or it is pulled downwardly toward the bottom of the stack. When no longer needed, the load spacer may then be removed and stored in a collapsed condition for later use. Patents representative of this state of the art include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,300,864; 4,516,891; 4,585,381; 4,109,587; 3,862,607; 3,842,757; 3,823,675; 3,618,535 and 3,593,671.
Numerous designs of void fillers have been developed over the years to address various problems encountered in the use of void fillers, for example, how best to suspend the void filler, how to overcome such problems as hourglassing of the void filler, and others represented by the patent literature. One of the key problems to be addressed, however, is how to make a void filler which is both effective and relatively inexpensive. This invention is directed to achieving that objective.